Rome

Ciao,

So, we continued on our trip by flying from Gothenburg to Rome.  We flew Ryanair, a budget European airline, who used it's own airport, which was the tiniest little airport I've ever seen located just outside the city.  Christoph and Mike are both afraid of flying, so both were a little jittery the whole time, but they made it through, and Christoph even said that after the two Rome flights we was starting to get slightly more used to flying, and my hope is someday he may even be comfortable enough to come visit me in the States someday.  

Our flights were originally supposed to be Thursday morning, but soon after booking them, they were pushed back 4 hours, so we lost a little time in Rome and didn't end up getting into the city until about 9 or 10 that night.  The first thing that I noticed about Rome was the big wall around the city they we drove through on the bus from the airport.  Once we were inside the city, it was still the same old, kind of run down buildings that are outside the city, but the style and architecture almost immediately improved.  Even the unimportant, run down building are beautifully designed, and the city is a sight to see simply in itself.  Just walking around the Rome you can see ruins everywhere and the statues from the tops of building poking out in the skyline.  We only went to a handful of sights, but I still feel like I saw so much.  Our flight back to Gothenburg was Saturday afternoon, so we went sightseeing hard all day Friday and Saturday morning.  I planned out our whole time in Rome so that we could see the biggest attractions and made sure to get tickets online and printed out in advance so that we could avoid waiting in lines.  I would bet that without printing out tickets beforehand, we would only be able to see about half the sights we did.  When there were huge (and I mean huge!) lines of people waiting to buy tickets and get into the big attractions like the Vatican we could just walk right by the lines and straight in the door.  Even though we were only there for a day and half, it felt like we got in a good 5 days worth of sightseeing.  On Friday alone, I took nearly 700 pictures, I can't even imagine how many I would have taken with the D60.  

Our first stop when we got to Rome Thursday night was a restaurant down the street from the hotel for some real Italian pizza.  The pizza was hand made, baked in a huge stone oven, and finished off with a little olive oil and basil.  It was one of the best pizzas I've ever had.  After dinner we headed across the street for some real Italian gelato.  The tiramisu gelato was fantastic.  After that we just walked down the block to the Piazza della Repubblica to relax for a bit before calling it an early night and heading to bed.

My first Italian pizza... mmm..... 

The geloteria after pizza

My first Italian gelato

The Piazza Della Repubblica at night

The piazza again, one of the many piazzas in Rome.  Each attraction also had it's own sign like this.

A nice relaxing evening gearing up for a big day tomorrow

The next day was our only full day in Rome, and we were determined to make the most of it.  I was up at 7, and the others were not far behind.  The first thing on our agenda was the Colosseum, as I thought it would be best to visit the most popular sights first thing in the morning to help avoid the masses of tourists (even in the middle of November).  We took a little bit of a longer route to get there, but it was completely worth it when we stepped out of an alleyway to a view of the heart of the historic center of the city.  There were old, important building along the streets at we walked the whole way, but here everything was just so close together.  One huge magnificent building after another.  It was simply breathtaking.  

Across from the Piazza della Repubblica was the Santa Maria degli Angeli, that we completely missed in the dark before

Also on our walk was the Palazzo delle Esposizioni

The rest of this series are all different angles of what we saw when we walked out the side street into the view of the historic center.  Here is the Colonna Traiana on the right with the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II behind it.  We would pass by the  Monumento again from a different angle, and it is one of the most impressive buildings I've ever seen.

The first thing that I saw walking out of the sidestreet

And the others were not far behind, the building behind them is the Church of the Most Holy Name of Mary at the Trajan Forum (or Santissimo Nome di Maria al Foro Triano in Italian)

To the left was the Mercanti Traianei

Part of the Foro Traiano

A look back at the other side of the street

The Campidoglio was right across the street

One of the many statues lining the street, with a piece of the Roman Forum in the background

And that was just the walk to our first attraction.  Our first actual stop was the Colosseum, which is perhaps the trademark of ancient Rome.  Everyone can recognize the outside of it, but the inside looked strangely unfamiliar and I was actually a little bit surprised by the interior.  I was expecting to see a field or a bit of sand or something in the middle where the gladiators would have fought, but that wasn't the case, or I suspect that it is no longer the case.  Either way, it was cool to think about all the incredible things that must have happen inside the Colosseum, and to know that now I've been inside it too.

An abstract shot walking up to the Colosseum

The famous front shot

Just to show how close by the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill are

Most of the first floor was filled with artifacts, mostly stone tablets or parts of statues, presumably once filling the Colosseum

A shot of the inside

Mike was the only one who's turned around for the group shot, but his face is so funny in this picture that I can't not use it

This is a kind of cool shot of Simon in the hallways of the Colosseum

A shot from the balcony looking out over the Forum and Palatine Hill

What the floor looked like.  I wonder if all this structure was under or on top of the floor used for the flights?

Chris showing off his Italian heritage through choice of underwear behind the Colosseum

I like this one too, Chris showing the Italian pride with a statue-like pose 

A great shot of Simon repping his Sweden jersey

A fantastic group shot, despite Jackson and Christoph's faces

Chris, being as awesome as he is, took another group shot so that I could be in it

Our next stop was right next door at Palatine Hill.  It's only about 40 meters tall, but it looks over the Colosseum and the Forum, along with having a nice vantage point on much of the city, and is the central most hill of the Seven Hills of Rome located right in the historic center.  

Palatine Hill was almost as much for walking around as it was sight seeing

A large field on the hill, I'm not sure exactly was it was used for

The house on the top of the hill can be seen from anywhere around the area

Most of the hill was scattered with ruins like this

Ruins and trees going back for quite a ways

At the far end of the hill was the main chariot racing track off the left

I've never seen it go from being to beautiful to raining so hard and back again so quickly.
There's something I really like about this shot too.

The view from the top of hill was phenomenal

The next stop was the Roman Forum.  This was the old marketplace of ancient Rome surrounded by the government buildings.  I thought the Forum was one of the more underrated sights in Rome.  There were ruins of all sorts that just seemed to go on and on.  The others were hungry and tired of walking, so we didn't walk around as much of it as I would have liked, but what I saw was pretty amazing, with what appears to be just a random assortment of artifacts and ruins surrounded by the towering buildings of the historic center.

The first building we saw walking into the Forum

All that is there are the remains that have survived, so often it is just parts of columns or walls or whatnot

A nice overview of the far end of the Forum.  That's Andre and Clinton towards the right

The big building ruins were awesome, but a lot of the smaller ones were really cool too

Almost seems like a huge random collection of artifacts

There are so many ruins here that I don't know the names of most of them

The far side of the Forum, I wish we had more time to check it out the whole thing in detail

Just an interesting place to wonder around

There was even a small museum at one end with some artifacts too

Looking back towards the entrance

After that we got lunch and headed off to our next stop.  Along the way we passed tons of beautiful buildings as usual, but we got a great look at the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II, a massively huge building dedicated to the first king of a united Italy.

The old style architecture is all around, wherever you look walking around the city

Size view of the choppy steps of the monument

This monument was just gigantic, it's size along was breathtaking

The full on front view

I kind of like the lighting and color of this one

And it was covered with statues and designs, as most of the building were

Our next stop was the Pantheon.  They were doing what appeared to be some restoration on part of the front of the building, but the interior is known for being some of the best preserved work from ancient Rome.  

The front view including the fountain and square

Despite the construction, it still looked cool

The famous dome ceiling

A little broader view of the inside

The building did start out as a church

Inside each of the little out-coves around the outside were displays

... or sculptures

... or paintings

The rest of the day was spent checking out some of the piazzas.  Since they were free, outdoors, and had no lines, they were perfect places to check out later in the day when we didn't have to worry about the places being filled with tourists.  The first piazza we saw was the Piazza Navona, one of Rome's more popular pedestrian piazzas and home to it's biggest outdoor market.  The piazza is also home to the Fontana dei Quattra Fiumi (Fountain of Four Rivers) and the Church of Sant'Agnese

The Fontana dei Quattra Fiumi with the Church of Sant'Agnese in the background

Another shot of the base of the fountain in front of the church

A view down part of the piazza, I assume it's much busier in the summer 

The piazza sign.  I really like this one too

After we left Piazza Navona we also passed by the Palazzo Chigi on our way to the next stop

Our next stop was at the most famous (and most crowded) piazza in Rome, the Piazzza dei Trevi with it's famous Fontana dei Trevi.  The fountain was much, much larger than I expected, and was really quite a sight to see.  While we were there, we also stopped for a gelato and to throw a coin in the fountain.  Legend has it that throwing a coin into the Trevi Fountain will ensure ones return to Rome someday.  Over 3,000 euros are thrown into the fountain every day, and the money is used to help subsidize food for Rome's needy.  

The piazza was packed when we got there

The fountain was huge

Nice front view

Close up of the statues

Mmm... gelato

After that we walked by the Piazza Colonna on our way to the next most famous piazza in Rome, the Piazza Magnanelli with it's famed Spanish Steps.  While most of the other guys were tired and just happy  to sit down on the steps, I had to run to the top just to say that I'd climbed the Spanish Steps, and was I ever glad that I did.  The view of the city from the top was phenomenal, and at the top of the steps was a church with some incredible artwork inside.

The Piazza Colonna

Close up of the base of the monument

The famed Spanish Steps

Sittin' on the Steps

Some of the artwork from the church atop the Steps

I had never heard about the artwork in here before and was glad that I ventured inside

The artwork never seems to stop

... it even continues right up on the ceilings

The monument on top of the Spanish Steps

The view out over the city

I wonder if the view would look better or worse had we come during the
daylight (which lasted much longer than it does in Sweden)

Our final stop for the night was the Piazza del Popolo.  It seemed much emptier than most of the other piazzas, and it was probably caused by a combination of its huge size, its distance from the heart of Rome, and the fact that it was late and dark out when we stopped by.  After the piazza we headed back to the hotel, and although a few of the guys headed out for one more round of pizza before bed, myself and a few others just crashed after a long day of sightseeing that seemed to go on for a week.  And when it was time to get up at 6:30 the next morning to beat the crowd to the Vatican, I was glad that I chose sleep over pizza.  

The Piazza del Popolo

The fountain at the center of the piazza

Another fountain behind the one in the center with the monument in it.

And that concludes the first day of sightseeing.  Yes, all that happened in one day.  Looking back on it, we probably packed a good 4 days of sightseeing into the day and half we had in Rome, and it sure felt like it.  By the time it was time to head back to Gothenburg on the afternoon of the second day, the things we'd just done, like visiting the Colosseum the morning of the first day or seeing the soccer match two nights before seemed like ancient history.

The next day was another early morning to try and pack as much sightseeing into the morning as we could before our flight that afternoon.  That morning we split up and Christoph and Simon slept in a little bit then rented a Vespa to ride around the city and see buildings while the rest of us headed to Vatican City.  The Vatican was located on the other side of Rome, but with the metro it didn't take us long to get there.  

I forgot what building this was on, but I thought the picture looked cool

The wall around the Vatican

Our first stop in Vatican City was the Vatican Museum.  It's a huge museum, and we didn't even scratch the surface of everything there is to see there.  There are many different sections within the museum, each of which is almost its own museum.  The first section of the museum we walked through was on the Egyptian rule.

Some ancient tablets

I still don't know exactly what this was in the green out the window, but it looked interesting

There were lots of Egyptian statues

Mike photographing in one of the halls full of statues and busts

There were countless little artifacts

After that we walked though a section of the more traditional Roman sculptures.  There were so many statues and displays that I can't even begin to show all of them, but here is a small sampling.

One of the many amazing hallways.  The artwork on the walls and ceilings was absolutely incredible.
This particular hall down the stairs here was closed for construction, but it was lined with statues
 and goes on almost as far as the eye can see. 

This guy just looked so happy standing there

This picture doesn't really capture how huge and impressive this statue was.  The one
behind it from the picture above looks tiny, but it's really only just behind the it.  

There were just so many cool statues

The view behind this bust was amazing

The amount of work and detail that went into every aspect of the rooms, including the floors was amazing

I honestly think that some of the most impressive work was just the ceilings of the rooms rather than the displays themselves

The next room that stands out to me was one that was modeled after the Pantheon.  The design was taken from the famous Pantheon dome, and the outside ring of the round room was littered with statues.

The ceiling definitely reminded me of the pantheon we has seen just the day before

This statue of Hercules seemed very familiar to me as well

Despite not having a hole in the roof like the Pantheon did, this room had a huge dish in the middle as if to catch water in, which strangely enough the Pantheon didn't have (which is why the middle of it was roped off and covered in water when we went, because it was raining)

I like the disproportionality and planes of depth in this picture

We walked around for a bit more, but not for nearly as long as I would have liked.  We were short on time, and some of the other guys didn't care quite as much for some of the artwork.  I feel like we barely scratched the surface of the museum, yet it was an incredible sight, and I still feel like I saw so much.

There was just so much great artwork on the ceilings

This hall was filled with huge hand-woven silk tapestries

And there wasn't just one or two painting on the ceilings, the artwork was
lined up piece to piece and seemed to stretch on forever

A close up of the ceiling, despite the huge amount of art, the level of detail was still incredible

And the walls were filled with almost as much art as the ceiling was

Another ceiling shot

You can see the level of detail in this piece, just incredible that this is what the ceiling looked like 

An view of the outside of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica from out the window

There was seemingly endless amount of artwork.  Notice how there are at least five or six more rooms
like this one through the doorway ahead, and I think one or two more behind this one

The stairway out of the Vatican Museum.  Not important, but I thought it looked kind of cool

But despite all the amazing sculptures, busts, and exhibits in the Vatican Museum, they all seemed almost boring and commonplace compared to the Sistine Chapel.  Unfortunately, the taking of pictures inside the chapel is strictly prohibited (so it talking for that matter) so there are no pictures here, but I really feel that no picture I could have taken would come even close to capturing the immense beauty and awesomeness of the Sistine Chapel.  I headed into the chapel before the rest of our friends and was the last to leave, and I still left feeling like I wanted to stay and look at it longer.  Words can hardly describe how amazingly breathtaking it was to stand inside that room.  I was staring up at the ceiling and walls so long that my neck hurt, but I just couldn't look away.  None of the descriptions I'd heard or picture I'd seen even came close to preparing me for what I saw.  Each of the paintings one the ceiling is a great masterpiece by itself, perhaps the best paintings I've ever seen, hand-painted almost entirely by Michelangelo himself over the course of four years, but they are stacked edge to edge across the entire ceiling.  When you see pictures of the Sistine Chapel, often you a close up of just one of the paintings, often the Creation of Adam, but seeing each all the works of art stretching across the more than 5,000 square feet of incredibly detailed frescoes is simply indescribable.  Speaking of the Creation of Adam, the most famous of the ceiling frescoes, I expected it to jump out at me, but it actually took a few minutes until I stumbled upon it.  Despite being in the middle of the ceiling, the painting is the same size as all the others, and perhaps the least colorful and busy of all the paintings.  Another incredibly underrated part of the ceiling was the rounded corners that contained artwork of people that was not only correctly proportional when viewed from below, but that seemed so 3-dimensional that I would have thought they were coming right out of the walls if I didn't know better.  Aside front he ceiling, the artwork around the outside of the walls is also simply amazing and often under-appreciated simply because it is sitting right next to the great ceiling.  Then at one end of the chapel, taking up the entire, huge wall is the Last Judgement.  I've seen many pictures and reproductions of the work, but none prepared me for the incredible massiveness of the work.  At around 2,000 square feet, the Last Judgement is less than half the size of the ceiling, but since it is all one huge painting and starts just feel above your head, it seems as though its almost as massive as the ceiling.  The paining is amazing to stand back and look at as whole, even with a pretty limited background on the meaning and symbolism of the different aspects of the painting, the grandness and movement of the artwork combined with its hidden intentions and meaning makes it something that I probably could have stood there and looked at for hours.  But when you walk right up to it and examine the painting in detail you realize just what incredible detail the painting is done in, and you see so many more little thing that you would not generally pick up when looking at the work as a whole.  It is breathtaking to see, and even more incredible when you think of what the ceiling must look like if you could view it up close.  I don't know if was the fact that it was a little chilly in the chapel or if it anything to do with all the other people around starting and whispering to each other, but almost the entire time I was in the Sistine Chapel I literally had goosebumps.  Rome was amazing, we saw so many incredible things, but none of them come even close to comparing with the absolute awesomeness of the Sistine Chapel.

Soon after leaving the chapel, we left the Vatican Museum.  Outside it was raining and leaving we saw the line of people waiting to get in that stretched almost around the entire outside of the museum, it must have been well over a mile long (of people standing in the rain! during the off season!).  At that time I was so glad that I'd printed out tickets online and made everyone get up early to beat the rush inside.  We then walked over to check out St. Peter's Basilica.  I recognized some pieces of it from watching the Pope speaking on TV.  Apparently the Pope was also out somewhere doing something special, because when we were there they had big-screen TV's set up around the piazza with a live feed of the Pope.  There was a decent sized line to get inside and we didn't have much time left before we had to head to the airport and fly back to Sweden, so we didn't go inside St. Peter's itself.

The end of the line waiting to get into the Vatican, nowhere even remotely close to the entrance

St. Peter's Square

One of the screens in the square showing the live feed of the Pope

The balcony the Pope comes out on to address the square

St. Peter's Basilica

We met up with Christoph and Simon there who had decided to spend the day on a Vespa riding through the city instead of seeing the Vatican Museum.  Here's a nice picture of Christoph in his scooter helmet.

The last picture I took in Rome.  The wall of Vatican City with the sign pointing to the Vatican Museum entrance.

Shortly after that we flew back to Gothenburg, Sweden and spent the night there before taking the train back to Vaxjo the next morning.  It seems like such a short time to be in Rome, but I still feel like we saw so much.  And as always, it was tough to leave Rome and it's nice warm weather, but nice to get back home to Sweden.

The next trip on the docket was to Oslo for a weekend, and check back soon to see some picture from that trip.

Ciao